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@giraffex, I'll need some force to get this one completed, thanks
@Vik, I know it should be smaller, but the post I made earlier with a link had a 7.5" width, and I say "go big or go home ". Good idea with using the metal, but I'm too late in the game for this one. Also they make magnetic wall paint, its expensive but I could try something like that later.
@rogue wolves, I know, I can't wait to see what I come up with either who needs plans
@graven, lunacy=theo also "that's no Lunacy "
@grimdork, think you've visited before.....I just keep changing the title around and I'm never on the same project for too long

Well the trench is forming up nicely. One side connected with the recessed screws and the inside skinned with plastic card. I got this done after the photo was taken.


Space in the trench will be taken up by wall mounted textures as well as other obstacles (like how the game has asteroids to avoid) maybe a satellite dish and definitely gun turrets .

All he kids are home now so I'll update later this week/end.

well... you will go big and you can still stay at home... cool situation

the wall paint is indeed expensive...and for my part I doubt if it actually is that magnetic enough to support such a model like the falcon... an x-wing or a tie I think will work... but more....naawwww...

Great start to an awesome project Theo

Re. obstacles for the trench, how about taking a leaf out of the original Star Wars game and have some bridges across the trench.....

Oh, the trench is playable? Sweet. The few games of X-wing I've played were with minimal 'asteroid' terrain. Sort of, well, dull.

Always remember, Han shot first.

Looks just an overgrown kid's lifetime dream! (Not that I know any toy-playing adults or anything, I'm just guessing!)

Great - and ambitious - start, will love to see it develop.

Good progress Theo. I have been looking forward to seeing this since you started the guns.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Always remember, Han shot first.

Fixed.
"First" implies that Greedo shot at all.

"I'm on the leader!" LOL!

Nice bit for replaying that scene in game.

 Dr H wrote:
Good progress Theo. I have been looking forward to seeing this since you started the guns.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Always remember, Han shot first.

Fixed.
"First" implies that Greedo shot at all.

Had to quote that again for emphasis...!!!!after all Han paid the barkeeper to clean off the "mess"...case closed...

@vik, the payment was extra gratuity, we all know whatever you leave behind in a bar becomes property of the bartender.....keys, coats, ex-girlfriends, your body
@shaso, the sad thing is I'm more of a Trekkie than a star fars fan, I'll have to rewatch the video a few times to get the feel.
@dr. H, the guns I'll have to be part of this build I'm afraid, I gave up on them a while back.
@littletower, if you meet one of those weirdos let me know so I can be weary of them. I hear you can smell them before you see them.
@redharvest, yes it will be playable....if it ever gets completed. I usually only play on a 3x3 table with six asteroids and we just go to kill each other, we haven't tried missions yet, but they look fun.
@monkeytroll, bridges are definitely "in", as are bump outs from the walls, turbo lasers and maybe a jettisoned compacted cube of garbage with tentacles
@vik, the paint is good enough hold for multiple magnets to hold. Had a friend use it on the wall of the kids room to paint roads and then mounted magnets to the underside o his kids hot wheels so he could roll around the walls. It was pretty sweet

Back from working at church today, about to leave for my full time gig, but pulled out some ideas for the trench.

The little half rounds are from a bunch of toys I bought at goodwill for less than $1. They held little toys called squinkies. I'm going to use them on the walls and connect some pipes to them like oxygen/water tanks. The green sheets are from a fire exit sign we just installed at church. The kit we bought came with red and green sheets , we went traditional red and they were going to pitch the green .

So I've got to come up with more ideas. I have bunches of those squinkies balls, so I could do a big section of them. I tried to wrap plastic card around those black pieces I showed for exhaust ports, but the glue isn't hold. I need thinner card. Also have to knock out about a dozen turrets .

Just have to remind myself it will all look good in the end .

 Viktor von Domm wrote:

 Dr H wrote:
Good progress Theo. I have been looking forward to seeing this since you started the guns.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Always remember, Han shot first.

Fixed.
"First" implies that Greedo shot at all.

Had to quote that again for emphasis...!!!!after all Han paid the barkeeper to clean off the "mess"...case closed...

I stand corrected.

And just to complicate things, FFG has a capital ships version coming. They are mining this for all it is worth. And doing a pretty good job, eh?

Please, Please finish this one. Great start.

Always remember that the ILM guys (the special effects crew created to make all the props for Star Wars) made all of their stuff in exactly the same way you are, with mountains of random stuff. Most of it was cheap, most of it was commonly found objects, plasticard or model bits, and in the end, at a distance and covered with paint, this model just those models will look awesome. Good luck!

@warboss, thanks that's extra reassuring , and welcome.
@cam, trying to work on it as much as possible......which is even less with school starting tomorrow
@red, not only capital ships, but also a miniature board game (whispers of a future full scale game are circulating now)

Well not much to show, its my weekend off and we need to do shopping for groceries and school clothes (getting the kids more fall/winter clothes). I might try and see if the kids want to learn to play x-wing tonight as a family event, I think they are ready. They've only ever seen the cartoons as my copies of the original movies are all laserdisc (yes I'm a true nerd).

Last night was busy at work, and I HAD to help terry the trash man because of all the patients being discharged he was overloaded. It sucks to HAVE to help him especially when I NEED to go and clear the clinical areas which have all the cool gubbins .


Tube ends, the small ones come from the paper towel dispensers in some areas of the hospital, I have one of the housekeepers grabbing those for me for the foreseeable future. The big one comes from the huge rolls of bin liners we get in pretty frequently. Half the time they are busted in shipping, but I can just keep an eye out for them as needed. Together they look like a nice starship engine don't they? The big ones center hole is big enough for the a-wing to pilot through it on the way to the reactor core, so it might make it onto the board as a secondary objective.


Hard to see the transparent plastic rectangle in the picture, I put it on h green plastic to show it better. It's about 10" long and will be a nice bump out on the wall as its textured.


Well off for family time, have a good time Dakka

That's some cool looking loot for the board! Glad to know it isn't just me who hordes seemingly random bits of plastic throughout my house.

Neat trench run. Hope it works out for you theo.

@commander Cain, were gamers, we all horde huge amounts of plastic/metal/resin
@comrade, I think it'll work our just fine for my purposes, just need to focus my time better.

Well quick update, only had a half hour this morning before getting kids up for church.

Lollipop row. The round parts are half of the squinkies balls and the tubes down are waxed cardboard lollipop sticks I got a year ago from Walmart out of their baking section. The bottom piece is from an IV kit the hospital uses, but our pumps have a different connection so these are discarded out of all the kits. Hopefully once painted they will look like liquid or gas storage containers mounted to the walls of the deathstar.


One foot partly done, five more feet on this side to continue to detail.....plus the 6ft of base....plus the other side . Why is it I don't drink caffeine anymore

Wheh this is ambitious! I'm just glad I'm sticking to a 12x12 little board thing for what I'm doing.

Really looking forward to your results

Awesome work chief - inspiring indeed!

Look fantastic matey.

Good use of parts, Theo.

Also, like I did inside my tank, rectangles of card glued to a flat surface can quickly break up the surface and give the impression of added detail.

@Dr. H, yes the walls will get additional paneling to represent the different sections in the trench.
@Cam, thanks
@graven, thanks as well. Could also use it as a days on sphere in Star Trek attack wing


Wife was napping , so I got the drill out and did some more work on the trench.

Added the other side of the trench and the end wall where the vent/target is at.
.
The wall has also been skinned with plastic card. Now the question remains should I place the vent on the vertical wall, or should I make a slanted floor section and mount it on that. I've seen both done so now I just need to decide.

Also my son got some hot wheels cars yesterday, and the blister packs they come in will soon become part of the build.
.
They will just be bump outs, but will make a little variance to the bland walls of the trench.

The lines at FFG were insanely long
But this is what Theo is talking about, will be released Q1 2015 from what I hear

Way to use basically everything ever and make me feel bad about all of the potential hobby goods I've thrown away (not to mention land fills etc blah blah).

Looks like you're coming right along

Here are some rare production stills you might find inspiring:

Notice, 36+ years ago, he's not wearing a mask like he's afraid of gak

Notice, 34 years ago, his obit. C.O.D. emphysema or something like it. Wear a mask people.

Those stills are so cool.

A miniatures game now? I cannot help but to think of all the tokens and counters that FFG will squeeze into it

Nice progress Theo. You may end up with the longest (length) entry ever. Cool.

@redharvest, 34 years ago I was still licking the fingerpaint off my fingers, and I'm still fine now *twitch twitch
@dave, of course he's not afraid of the paint, what you don't see is Vader standing behind him threatening to throat hug him if he doesn't paint to golden demon standards
@warboss, now I realize my design is too small. Thanks for the pics
@grimdork, I've always been a trash hoarder, must be the Jawa miniature I chewed on as a boy that has me picking up strange stuff all the time.
@dave again, glad your back. I can see those models and that game as a test run at a skirmish sized battle system with multipose stormtroopers. Problem is, who would want to be the rebels

Little update, started classes this morning, so little time.

First hot wheels car blister bump out attached.

Medical device blister packing bump out attached, had to improvise something to cover the open end. I had one of these foam barrels nearby, hopefully I'll be able to dress it up better later.

Still undecided on the vertical or horizontal vent though.

Looking good so far, that first pic looks great with the Xwing shadow.

I now have the Star Wars theme tune in my head

theo... I think you should go for that horizontal vent... after all the torpedo's took an arch ... in the 3d animation as well as in the actual fire sequence...

the surface detail looks nice... you´re probably using the same stuff the crew used originally... tho if I were you I would mix the elements a bit more randomly to not hove actual sectors that much?...maybe you find a rhythm of your bits that would work continuously on both sides?...


also... will you add a bit of the actual death star outer surface? a wider rim to the trench?....

If I were you, I'd just layer shapes. The blisters are a good start. Remember, paint will cover all.